Legislature Passes $1.9 Billion Medicaid Budget

The Idaho legislature has passed a new nearly $2 billion budget for Medicaid in the state.

Medicaid in Idaho will have about $100 million more than last year.

The new budget will also bring back some Medicaid programs that had been cut in Idaho.

One of those restored Medicaid programs helps provide preventative dental care for children, pregnant women and the disabled.

“Preventative dentistry, just in general, is just the best thing you can do for your patient,? dentist Bryce Larsen said.

Another program brought back into action restores Medicaid help for people with more than one mental or developmental problem.

With the program currently cut, some mental health professional said people have had to leave conditions completely untreated.

“When they did the cuts, you had a lot of folks who had to decide whether they wanted to treat their developmental delay or if they wanted to treat their behavior issues,? Clinician at Behavioral Treatment Center Cameron Ball said.

And they said this increased funding will mean a big difference for some people on Medicaid.

“The idea of having their services increased gives them the ability to move forward as far as their treatment goes, and living a fuller and probably more happier pleasant life,? Licensed Clinical Social Worker Michael Stevens said.

Larsen said funding these preventative health measures should help actually save taxpayers money, by catching problems when they’re small and a lot cheaper to fix.

“Instead of doing a small little filling at a small amount of money it’s going to be a big procedure, a lot more costly procedure. Usually it tends to be about 10 times the cost,? Larsen said.

About 70 percent of the state’s Medicaid budget comes from the federal government.

The Medicaid budget now goes to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.